Less than half of the country’s public schools employ a full-time nurse, and in some of the worst cases – largely in poor, urban school systems – there’s only one school nurse for every 4,000 students.
“This absolutely has real consequences,” says Beth Mattey, president of the National Association of School Nurses. “If you have a child who isn’t healthy, who doesn’t feel well, who has a toothache, they will not learn. School nurses keep kids in schools.”
As a result, teachers, principals and administrative staff are tending to playground cuts, doling out medication, keeping tabs on food allergies, and watching the blood sugar levels of students with diabetes.